Another mid-air 'peeing' incident on AI flight comes to light

Ten days after the shocking November 26 incident on a New York-Delhi Air India flight, another episode of a drunk male passenger allegedly urinating on a female passenger's blanket was reported on the Paris-Delhi sector but there was no penal action after he gave a written apology, officials said on Thursday.

This incident happened on December 6 on Air India flight 142 and the pilot of the aircraft reported the matter to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, following which the male passenger was apprehended, they said.

Air India, in a late evening statement, confirmed the incident and said the crew identified and isolated the offender and reported the incident to authorities.

The flight landed around 9.40 am at Delhi and the airport security was informed that the male passenger was 'under the influence of alcohol and he was not following the instructions of the cabin crew and he later peed on a blanket of an onboard lady passenger', airport officials told PTI.

The lady passenger, who had initially made a written complaint, refused to file a police case and hence the passenger was allowed to go by the airport security after he cleared immigration and customs formalities, they added.

'Air India confirms that a passenger on Air India Flight 142 from Paris to Delhi on December 6, 2022 relieved himself on the vacant seat and blanket of a fellow passenger, when the latter was in the lavatory. The crew identified and isolated the offender and reported the incident to authorities,' the airline said in its statement.

It also said that 'as the victim and the accused reached an understanding', the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) allowed the accused to leave after he tendered a written apology.

'In deference to the victim's wishes, Air India did not lodge a police report,' the statement said.

The incident came just over a week after the November 26 episode where a man allegedly urinated on a female co-passenger onboard a New York-Delhi Air India flight.

The Delhi Police has now registered a first information report (FIR) in the November incident, based on a complaint by the victim to Air India, and has formed several teams to nab the accused.